Living, Dead, or Nonliving; SCIS 3+

From September to February, Ms. Kelly taught the first of two SCIS kits
for 2nd grade, which covered physical interaction systems. The second
kit, Life Science, began in March with organisms. From there it moved
onto habitats and introduced the food chain before arriving at the lesson
that was taped, “living, dead, and never-living.”

In the lesson, Ms. Kelly introduced the students to a number of living
organisms and guided them in a discussion about classification. What
makes something “living,” “dead,” or “never
living”? After discussing essential characteristics of each category,
Ms. Kelly distributed a mystery material, the “green stuff,” and
asked her students to determine what category it belonged to.

Through that inquiry exercise, her students developed their ideas and,
along the way, surprised their teacher: “I thought they would all
agree that it wasn’t alive. I thought they would say that it was
plastic since it doesn’t move and doesn’t do anything --
but they really looked very closely.” And it’s a good thing
they did. The “green stuff,” it turns out, was an air fern.